We’ve heard that sitting is the new smoking, but that doesn’t mean smoking has become any healthier for you. In fact, smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death, disease, and healthcare spending in the United States. And, studies show that an average employer spends an additional $6,000 in healthcare costs and lost productivity per smoker per year.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death, disease, and healthcare spending in the United States.

By reducing smoking rates, employers can not only improve the health and wellbeing of their employees, but increase productivity and reduce costs overall. That’s why Castlight’s Jiff Enterprise Navigator has partnered with an industry-leading smoking cessation solution that has clinical as well as real-world evidence showing its evidence.

SmartQuit is an evidence-based smoking cessation program from 2Morrow, a leader at the intersection of mobile technology and behavior change.

We spoke with Brandon Masterson, Founder and CEO of 2Morrow about SmartQuit’s solutions, their program’s results, and the future of digital therapeutics.

For people who are not familiar with SmartQuit, tell us how it works.

SmartQuit delivers an 8 day smoking cessation program via a smartphone app to be completed before a participant’s quit day. Participants also get 6 months of additional support, messages, and tools to support success. SmartQuit uniquely uses an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approach to quitting.

For SmartQuit, it starts with a plan! Using the app, participants create a personal Quit Plan. Each day for 8 days participants unlock a new exercise that teaches them a new way to think about urges or cravings. At first, participants are asked to become aware of their urges to smoke. Later, they learn and practice new ways to think about those urges so they can notice the urge to smoke without acting on it. The app continues to support participants’ efforts with customized messages, tips, and tools through your quit day and beyond.

Who is using SmartQuit?

Many different groups offer SmartQuit to their populations, including employers, wellness programs, health plans, and even a few states. Since SmartQuit is a mobile solution, we have employers big and small, with locations all across the country, using SmartQuit to help their employees quit smoking and live healthier lives. The mobile program is especially convenient for employees who don’t work at a desk, do shift work, or don’t work in a main office.

What kind of results are users seeing with SmartQuit?

The SmartQuit program has been shown effective in multiple clinical trials and is 2-3 times more effective than trying to quit on your own. In addition, those that completed the full program were 6Xs more likely to quit. In addition to the quitters, over 70% of participants reported a reduction in daily smoking. Similar results are being seen in employer populations. In a recent case study of a large employer, over 90% of participants that responded to the satisfaction survey either quit or reduced their smoking.

What’s your biggest customer success story?

We are most proud of SmartQuit’s ability to drive engagement and reach smokers that might otherwise not participate. We’ve had customers who have seen as many as 40% of their smokers sign up, with over 80% earning a Certificate of Completion. With another large employer (manufacturing) offering SmartQuit increased participation of smokers in their tobacco cessation campaign by 228%.

Digital therapeutics is a fast-growing field. Where do you think this sector is headed?

Digital Therapeutics is an extremely exciting area right now, and experts are taking note of its promise for employer health! Although mobile health is relatively new, actually getting data on the effectiveness of these programs is really still cutting edge. At 2Morrow, we are committed to not only building programs based on good behavioral models and data, but actually testing our programs both in a clinical and real-world setting. This allows us to constantly improve the program based on real data and evidence.

About Brandon Masterson:

Founder & CEO, 2Morrow

Brandon has 20+ years of technology and business experience in mobile, medical devices and e-commerce. He has a passion and vision for the potential of mobile technology to help people live healthier lives. He has led multiple teams through rapid growth and is known for his calm focus, persistence and determination when tackling difficult challenges. Brandon loves helping people, business development and partnering up to deliver breakthrough ideas and even writes code as time allows.